The master cylinder is an integral part of the vehicle braking system. There are several designs of master cylinders in use with different fluid flow patterns to achieve customer needs.
ABS and TCS increase the need for proper flow of the brake fluid through the master cylinder. With the brakes applied and ABS mode initiated, the high-pressure piston cup of both the primary and secondary circuits are beyond the by-pass and therefore exposed to extrusion as sudden backpressure occurs. This phenomenon creates significant stress on key components within the master cylinder such as the high-pressure piston seals. Therefore, new bypass flow concepts have become necessary to accommodate the sudden backpressure sent to the master cylinder and prevent any damage to the high-pressure piston seals.
Several prior designs of vehicle braking system master cylinders can accommodate the pulsating brake fluid, however, internal components of these master cylinders are susceptible to being eroded more quickly, thereby affecting the life, durability and performance of the master cylinder. Another concern with prior designs of vehicle braking system master cylinders is the component stack aspect of these designs. Prior art designs provide for only one dedicated travel length and degree of fluid flow within the master cylinder. Finally, existing center compensation designs of the master cylinders have numerous small parts and are tedious to assemble, as they require proper alignment within the master cylinder that could contribute to assembly problems leading to first time quality concerns.
It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a master cylinder that overcomes these and other disadvantages.